The New Seven Wonders—世界新七大自然奇迹 带你走入奇幻景致

由英语学习—电话英语提供

　　导读：近日一份名为“世界新七大自然奇观”的榜单出炉，尽管投票机制(voting mechanism)不一定能得到所有人的认可，但不得不承认这次评选还是令许多人大开眼界的。现在，让我们用自己的感官来评选“世界新七大自然奇观”吧。
　　In 2007, public voting began and citizens around the world voiced their opinions on what they thought were the world`s most beautiful locations. On the auspicious date of November 11th, 2011, voting closed and the results are now being tallied.
　　2007年，公众投票正式启动，世界各地的人们对于自己心中世上最美地点各抒己见。在2011年11月11日这个幸运之日，投票过程截止，最终结果正在统计之中。
　　Founder of the New Seven Wonders of the World (N7W), Bernard Weber was dissatisfied with the original list which was compiled by one single man. The N7W project used the internet to reach out to the citizens of every country, allowing for many smaller and less well-known sites to gain recognition.
　　作为“世界新七大自然奇观”评选的发起人，伯纳德?韦伯对之前的那份全凭一人编排的“世界七大奇迹”榜单很不满意。此次的“世界新七大自然奇观”计划利用互联网使得各个国家的人民都可以参与其中，使得很多小众且不为人知的景点也能获得认可。
　　Weber commented that many breathtakingly beautiful, natural places are still unknown to many of us. "From waterfalls to fjords, rainforests to mountain peaks, freshwater lakes to volcanoes, we are discovering together the incredible beauty and variety of our planet."
　　韦伯评论道，我们中的许多人对于诸多具有惊人之美的自然景观还一无所知。“从悬瀑到峡湾，从雨林到山峰，从淡水湖再到火山，让我们一起去探索地球上的梦幻美景，发掘我们生存的星球的多姿多彩。”
　　More than 440 locations in more than 220 countries were all scrutinized by the project`s voters. Experts were also consulted before 28 candidates were chosen as finalists. Yushan Park in Taiwan was the only Chinese finalist. Now, the provisional list of winners has just been released, and the official list will be revealed early in 2012.
　　此次评选活动中，参与投票的人们仔细检查了来自超过220多个国家的超过440多处景观。最后将听取专家们的意见，从中筛选出28处候选景观进入最后一轮评选。台湾玉山公园是唯一进入最后一轮评选的中国景区。现在，暂定入围名单已被公布，而官方榜单将于2012年年初公布。
　　But out of the hundreds of locations entered, can any of them truly be referred to as "the best"? The voting system did not prevent people from voting more than once, so its results are admittedly unscientific. But is that a problem?
　　然而，尽管从数百个入围景区中脱颖而出，但这七个景区中，任意一个都能被称为真正意义上的“最佳”吗？投票系统没有禁止每人多次投票，所以投票结果显然不够科学。但这会是问题所在吗？
　　Weber`s list unquestionably serves its purpose of opening our eyes to places which had previously escaped widespread recognition. It is time now for us to experience these sites with our own senses. Only then can we properly judge the list`s merits and shortcomings.
　　毫无疑问，韦伯的这份榜单拓展了我们的眼界，让我们了解那些之前没有获得广泛认可的景区。现在，该是我们用自己的感官来体验这些景区的时候了，只有那样，我们才能公允地评判出这份榜单的优点和不足。